Saturday, May 12, 2012

This was an unusual and interesting ride. I left home at 0630 and cruised to Caneva. There I met Joe for our ride and several other folks from GC Meschio club also arrived. We headed toward Passo di San Boldo around 0800. I held on to the back of the bunch until Cordignano, when my front tire and tube were slashed by some road debris. The guys heard the load hiss and all came back to help. Joe told them to go ahead, we would change the tube and catch up with them, but they would have none of it. Two guys pulled off the tire, carefully checked for any glass, etc still lodged in the tire carcass, and half-pumped the new tube. Another guy was using the pump to try and find the hole in the tube. That could wait for later though, so the other 2 guys finished pumping my tire and reinstalled the wheel. All the while the whole group remained waiting, for me a total stranger who happened to be tagging along. Their kindness and patience with me holding up their ride was really amazing. Days like this remind me why I love living in Italy so much.

I redoubled my efforts to keep up and managed to hang on through Anzano but the little hill at Serravalle dropped me. The last I saw of them was on the climb toward Longhere on Via del Prosecco. I settled into my usual snail-like pace and continued till Cison di Valmarino, where I turned toward Passo di San Boldo. This is a beautiful place; even if you don't bike you should visit just for the view. I continued up the tornanti to 665 meters, where I stopped for the traffic light (there are single-lane U-shaped tunnels at the ends of the tornanti so it's safer to wait for a green light to avoid hitting descending cars head-on. While I was waiting Joe and his companion (whose front derailleur cable had broken) arrived from the passo, where they had waited awhile. They were headed down so I went with them- there'll be plenty more chances to climb this again (and descend via Passo Praderadego!)Fun ride and I met some very nice people!